Live Life Love | Volume Thirty-Eight

Hi Everyone,

Last quarter I mentioned I wanted to start exploring fun and play more deeply. Certainly I have mastered the art of work, but somehow I have found fun increasingly elusive. Being the nerd I am, simply observing the benefits of fun from my daughter’s delightful play was not enough. I had to dig into the science. As such, I wrote the post: Why You Need More Fun in Your Life, According to Science. It was a self-serving assignment — something to work on, because heaven forbid I spend the time having more fun. I discovered I am not alone in experiencing the elusiveness of fun, because it was my first post to truly go viral with 100s of likes and shares. Since then I have been digging into fun, and … well … it’s been fun. There is a lot to unpack: fun; play; happiness; autonomy; flow — science reveals to us these are not tangible puzzle pieces that each have their respective place. Instead, for each of us, they are unique parts of a complex quilt that when aptly patched together making our lives more fulfilling and helping us build resilience against the bad stuff.

The truth is, sometimes life is not fun. I was thrown another curve-ball recently. I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis and had to have corrective hip surgery. I was told until science catches up with my condition, I am no longer a runner. Even just typing that out — I am no longer a runner — creates internal cognitive dissonance (i.e. it’s sucky). I can choose to let this identity change get me down, or I can adjust to new forms of fun and play. To know if change is beneficial, it is important to understand how to make personal assessments and gauge whether new adaptations are working for you (or not). This quarter, I reached out to two thought leaders in the space of self-evaluation: one a best-selling author, the other one of the leading psychological researchers at Harvard.

Business, Innovation and Entrepreneurship: The interview this quarter is with Cathy Presland about tracking progress. Cathy is considered an expert on leadership, drawing her knowledge from over 20 years of experience working with governments and international organizations. She is also an international bestseller and runs the World-Changers’ Circle program from her office in the UK. My interview with Cathy Presland is available here.

Health and Wellness: This quarter’s interview is with Matthew Nock, Ph.D., about assessing an intervention using only a single individual (i.e. n=1, self-experimentation). Matthew is a leading expert in single-case experimental design. He received the MacArthur “Genius” Award in 2011 and is currently a psychology professor at Harvard University, where he also runs the Nock Lab. My interview with Dr. Matthew Nock is available here.

Life Experience: This quarter, I traveled to Houston for Super Bowl LI. I also had hip surgery, which I alluded to earlier. Both significant life experiences — however, Houston was notably more fun than surgery, so it gets the photographic evidence.

Super Bowl LI | Houston, Texas

Contribution: This quarter, I made donations to Tour de Cure again, as well as Little Kids Rock. More importantly, I made time to share the gift of contribution with my daughter. Sloane and I spend an afternoon at Crab Cove in Alameda, California, helping to clean up the beach there with a host of other local volunteers.

Crab Cove | Alameda, California

Lastly, this quarter Charlie Hoehn, author of the book “Play It Away,” found my website. When we were able to connect, it made my day. I am a fan of Charlie’s work so I wanted to finish this newsletter paying it forward and plugging a new book he is working on: Play for a Living. I am hopeful I will be able to coax him into an interview sometime in the future.